This was written by Paul Gargano(Editor) in the Editor's Note section of this months Metal Edge Magazine. There is also a poster of Alter Bridge in this issue. Also, Alter Bridge made several of the top ten list of albums of the year in this issue as well. Enjoy.

Editors Note
By Paul Gargano
From Metal Edge Magazine

It was a Wednesday night, and Game Four of the 2004 World Series was in its waning innings as I drove to Anaheim for what would be an amazing night of metal with Anthrax and Dio. Being a New York Yankees fan, I lost interest after game three of the series, when Boston pretty-much locked up their first championship in 86 years—Hell, what are the chances of two teams coming from behind to win the last four games, after losing the first three? Hard feelings? I have none. The Yankees are still the greatest franchise in sports history, regardless of the fact that they've made a mockery of themselves in the past few post-seasons. "Hey, the sun's gotta shine on every monkey's ass someday," my brother said of the Red Sox well-deserved victory... So, I'm driving to Anaheim, and my phone starts ringing off the hook with calls and text messages, the first of which was my broth-er: "Are you watching this crap?" "No, I'm in my car... What crap?" "Scott Stapp is butchering 'God Bless America,'" he tells me. You see, since 9-11, it has become tradition in Major League Baseball to sing "God Bless America" during every seventh inning stretch. Apparently, some suit in the St. Louis Cardinals front office decided, "If we're going to go down, we might as well go down in flames— Someone track down that guy from Creed, who better to sing during one of the worst World Series performances in history?" While I didn't hear it sung live, I knew I was in trouble when we got back from the show, and my dog was cowering on her bed, her ears buried beneath her paws—I had left the television on when I left, taping the World Series. A couple of treats sped up her recovery, but it was-n't that easy for me.
A few days earlier, I heard Stapp make an on-air appearance on a local radio station. He's doing a promo tour to support his new single—his only apparent new song, "Relearn Love," from the Passion Of The Christ album—and has been performing that song on-air at Top 40 radio stations across America. So far, I've got no problems, other than the obvious hypocrisy of his portrayal as such a devout Christian who never curses, doesn't drink or do drugs, and lives the life of the average, everyday, holier-than-thou goody two shoes next door... But, that's not my point. I'm the first to admit, I've never been a Creed fan, but I'm objective, and I'll give anyone their fair shake. Scott Stapp got his when I interviewed him on Creed's first album, it was a cover story, and he then went on a national radio show and denied ever doing the interview, because some Christian called up and said he'd upset their community by saying "fuck" in the interview. "Metal Edge made that interview up," he said on the air for millions of listeners to hear. Funny, if he never did the interview, why do I have a tape of it? Gloves were off after that. I never liked the band anyway, but was softening up to them after the interview—Good interviews often make me appreciate bands more, and the Stapp interview was a good one. But, again, I digress...
Back to these radio appearances—He plays his one song, gets his ass kissed by the on-air staff, then proceeds to jump into acoustic Creed tracks. Now this, pisses me off. It's pretty common knowledge that it was predominantly Mark Tremonti who wrote Creed's music, and Stapp that wrote the lyrics. If you doubt that, just look at how prolific Tremonti's been as a songwriter, with an entire album of Alter Bridge material that puts Creed to shame, as opposed to Stapp's one song. Tremonti, former Creed bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips, and new frontman Myles Kennedy are out making a name for themselves apart from Creed, while Stapp is out there try-ing to keep a name for himself by clinging to Creed. Three quarters of Creed's original lineup have faith in their future, and their former frontman, he of so much faith, is clinging to his past—Alter Bridge are working their asses off across America, as a new band, distanc-ing themselves from Creed, and Stapp is floating through the late night television circuit, reaching millions of Americans via Top 40 radio, and doing it all on the strength of music that he needed a band to write. What's wrong with this picture?
What's my point? Well -inrr vou rend this for, I might as well 'fess up—I lost a bet. I I openly asserted that the Yankees would win the American League Championship Series in Game 5, and if they didn't, that I would write my Editor's Page in a Boston accent. Well, I couldn't bare to make anyone read a page where every R was replaced with an H, so I decided that, instead, I'd use another vocal 'evice common to the city's Red Sox fans—I'd whine. For years, they've whined inces-santly about the injustice of their team's cursed past, so now it's my turn... And what bet-ser to whine about, in a music magazine, than the injustice of a band working their asses off, while their former frontman coasts on their coattails? As for Boston? I do have to give them at least some credit—While the Cardinals went and got Scott Stapp to perform, the Red Sox handed the mic to Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyier to perform the Game One "Star-Spangled Banner." That just about says it all...
Psychobabble out of the way, thanks for another great year of Metal Edge—Hope you find this month's Year In Review as interesting to read, as we did to write. Until next month, when we'll begin celebrating Metal Edge's PO1" Anniversary—Happy holidays, and best wishes for the new year...

DekWannaBFlea

12-13-2004 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabriel

This was written by Paul Gargano(Editor) in the Editor's Note section of this months Metal Edge Magazine. There is also a poster of Alter Bridge in this issue. Also, Alter Bridge made several of the top ten list of albums of the year in this issue as well. Enjoy.

Editors Note
By Paul Gargano
From Metal Edge Magazine

It was a Wednesday night, and Game Four of the 2004 World Series was in its waning innings as I drove to Anaheim for what would be an amazing night of metal with Anthrax and Dio. Being a New York Yankees fan, I lost interest after game three of the series, when Boston pretty-much locked up their first championship in 86 years—Hell, what are the chances of two teams coming from behind to win the last four games, after losing the first three? Hard feelings? I have none. The Yankees are still the greatest franchise in sports history, regardless of the fact that they've made a mockery of themselves in the past few post-seasons. "Hey, the sun's gotta shine on every monkey's ass someday," my brother said of the Red Sox well-deserved victory... So, I'm driving to Anaheim, and my phone starts ringing off the hook with calls and text messages, the first of which was my broth-er: "Are you watching this crap?" "No, I'm in my car... What crap?" "Scott Stapp is butchering 'God Bless America,'" he tells me. You see, since 9-11, it has become tradition in Major League Baseball to sing "God Bless America" during every seventh inning stretch. Apparently, some suit in the St. Louis Cardinals front office decided, "If we're going to go down, we might as well go down in flames— Someone track down that guy from Creed, who better to sing during one of the worst World Series performances in history?" While I didn't hear it sung live, I knew I was in trouble when we got back from the show, and my dog was cowering on her bed, her ears buried beneath her paws—I had left the television on when I left, taping the World Series. A couple of treats sped up her recovery, but it was-n't that easy for me.
A few days earlier, I heard Stapp make an on-air appearance on a local radio station. He's doing a promo tour to support his new single—his only apparent new song, "Relearn Love," from the Passion Of The Christ album—and has been performing that song on-air at Top 40 radio stations across America. So far, I've got no problems, other than the obvious hypocrisy of his portrayal as such a devout Christian who never curses, doesn't drink or do drugs, and lives the life of the average, everyday, holier-than-thou goody two shoes next door... But, that's not my point. I'm the first to admit, I've never been a Creed fan, but I'm objective, and I'll give anyone their fair shake. Scott Stapp got his when I interviewed him on Creed's first album, it was a cover story, and he then went on a national radio show and denied ever doing the interview, because some Christian called up and said he'd upset their community by saying "fuck" in the interview. "Metal Edge made that interview up," he said on the air for millions of listeners to hear. Funny, if he never did the interview, why do I have a tape of it? Gloves were off after that. I never liked the band anyway, but was softening up to them after the interview—Good interviews often make me appreciate bands more, and the Stapp interview was a good one. But, again, I digress...
Back to these radio appearances—He plays his one song, gets his ass kissed by the on-air staff, then proceeds to jump into acoustic Creed tracks. Now this, pisses me off. It's pretty common knowledge that it was predominantly Mark Tremonti who wrote Creed's music, and Stapp that wrote the lyrics. If you doubt that, just look at how prolific Tremonti's been as a songwriter, with an entire album of Alter Bridge material that puts Creed to shame, as opposed to Stapp's one song. Tremonti, former Creed bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips, and new frontman Myles Kennedy are out making a name for themselves apart from Creed, while Stapp is out there try-ing to keep a name for himself by clinging to Creed. Three quarters of Creed's original lineup have faith in their future, and their former frontman, he of so much faith, is clinging to his past—Alter Bridge are working their asses off across America, as a new band, distanc-ing themselves from Creed, and Stapp is floating through the late night television circuit, reaching millions of Americans via Top 40 radio, and doing it all on the strength of music that he needed a band to write. What's wrong with this picture?
What's my point? Well -inrr vou rend this for, I might as well 'fess up—I lost a bet. I I openly asserted that the Yankees would win the American League Championship Series in Game 5, and if they didn't, that I would write my Editor's Page in a Boston accent. Well, I couldn't bare to make anyone read a page where every R was replaced with an H, so I decided that, instead, I'd use another vocal 'evice common to the city's Red Sox fans—I'd whine. For years, they've whined inces-santly about the injustice of their team's cursed past, so now it's my turn... And what bet-ser to whine about, in a music magazine, than the injustice of a band working their asses off, while their former frontman coasts on their coattails? As for Boston? I do have to give them at least some credit—While the Cardinals went and got Scott Stapp to perform, the Red Sox handed the mic to Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyier to perform the Game One "Star-Spangled Banner." That just about says it all...
Psychobabble out of the way, thanks for another great year of Metal Edge—Hope you find this month's Year In Review as interesting to read, as we did to write. Until next month, when we'll begin celebrating Metal Edge's PO1" Anniversary—Happy holidays, and best wishes for the new year...

Cool. I'll have to pick up that issue. I already have their other two issues!

H-D :xmas:

Dogstar

12-13-2004 02:53 PM

Hey, thanks for the article, Michael. Also, there is an Alter Bridge Q&A in the February issue of Revolver Magazine, and the guys talk about branching out music-wise, a lot of the same stuff we've been reading, but there is also a funny part, tongue-in-cheek it seems, about Brian Marshall supposedly kicking Scott S.'s ass. Now, before all the Stapp backers get on my case, it seems pretty tongue-in-cheek. That said, Brian did say, as he's said before, that he and Stapp didn't get along too well.

Q: Brian, Stapp told MTV that if you had continued in the band, he didn't know if you "would be here right now on this earth."

A: (Brian) Stapp and I clashed a lot. We never were friends. I was no angel out on the road, but he's definitely not the angel that he wants everybody to believe [he is].

Q: Did you two have fistfights?
A: (Brian) A few, yeah.

Q: Did you ever kick his ass?
A: (Brian) Yup.
(Mark): Don't say you kicked his ass. When they fought, there was a punch thrown by each one of them. Nobody kicked anyone's ass. They were always too drunk.

Steve

12-13-2004 03:43 PM

Wow, very interesting article.

Torn Daredevil

12-13-2004 03:52 PM

Wow, very telling. Exactly what pretty much everyone else seems to think of Stapp (except for those crazy-ass PBF-ers).

Tremonti IS a prolific song-writer, nice to finally hear that from a critic. The lyrics are the only weaker part of the AB album, but hopefully Myles will help him clean those up.

This article made me very happy. :-)

Trimontana

12-13-2004 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogstar

Hey, thanks for the article, Michael. Also, there is an Alter Bridge Q&A in the February issue of Revolver Magazine, and the guys talk about branching out music-wise, a lot of the same stuff we've been reading, but there is also a funny part, tongue-in-cheek it seems, about Brian Marshall supposedly kicking Scott S.'s ass. Now, before all the Stapp backers get on my case, it seems pretty tongue-in-cheek. That said, Brian did say, as he's said before, that he and Stapp didn't get along too well.

Q: Brian, Stapp told MTV that if you had continued in the band, he didn't know if you "would be here right now on this earth."

A: (Brian) Stapp and I clashed a lot. We never were friends. I was no angel out on the road, but he's definitely not the angel that he wants everybody to believe [he is].

Q: Did you two have fistfights?
A: (Brian) A few, yeah.

Q: Did you ever kick his ass?
A: (Brian) Yup.
(Mark): Don't say you kicked his ass. When they fought, there was a punch thrown by each one of them. Nobody kicked anyone's ass. They were always too drunk.

Mark is such a mother....i love him...always putting peace in war..... :)

Trimontana

12-13-2004 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellboy

Wow, very telling. Exactly what pretty much everyone else seems to think of Stapp (except for those crazy-ass PBF-ers).

Tremonti IS a prolific song-writer, nice to finally hear that from a critic. The lyrics are the only weaker part of the AB album, but hopefully Myles will help him clean those up.

This article made me very happy. :-)

Much agree with you what you said first....Stapp isn`t an angel.....just for that crazy, crazy ones.....hehehehehehe :D , i can see the bombs coming again....!!!!!!

Disillusioned

12-13-2004 05:32 PM

Love the article - objective, honest, and informative...I didn't know about the interview with Stapp from the first album and what proceeded thereafter in denials.

fluttergirl

12-13-2004 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogstar

Q: Did you two have fistfights?
A: (Brian) A few, yeah.

Q: Did you ever kick his ass?
A: (Brian) Yup.
(Mark): Don't say you kicked his ass. When they fought, there was a punch thrown by each one of them. Nobody kicked anyone's ass. They were always too drunk.

i cant wait to see him with a kid, hes going to have *so* much fun, more parenting....
but it seems like he had enough practice in the past, and even now, lol.

titan9

12-13-2004 09:33 PM

Damn, I'm so sick of all this Stapp bashing. Seriously, like I've said, I'm an equal fan of Stapp and Alter Bridge. But I'm tired of this. AB has already released an album. Stapp has not. You can't compare what the two are doing right now until Stapp releases his solo album. Even then, I'm not sure the comparison is fair.

As for butchering God Bless America, everyone has their opinion of it. I didn't think it was terrible, but it wasn't amazing either.

Dogstar

12-13-2004 09:47 PM

The point is he hasn't released an album. I think that's what the writer was trying to say, that while AB has decided to move forward right away, Stapp hasn't.

Wylde-Tremonti

12-13-2004 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by titan9

Damn, I'm so sick of all this Stapp bashing. Seriously, like I've said, I'm an equal fan of Stapp and Alter Bridge. But I'm tired of this. AB has already released an album. Stapp has not. You can't compare what the two are doing right now until Stapp releases his solo album. Even then, I'm not sure the comparison is fair.

As for butchering God Bless America, everyone has their opinion of it. I didn't think it was terrible, but it wasn't amazing either.

The Fact that Stapp Doesn't Have an Album out says TONS... It Says Either:
1) He's Taking his Sweet Time
2) He's Stalling
3) He's Lost it
4) It's So Amazing That It will take as long as a new GNR Record to make...